How popular is samus as a main?

[Hive]

It seem to me that samus went down a lot in users since melee... she's like number 17 or something in this poll (http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=154779) and that's with her and ZSS combined... IDK do you see this too?

Actually I'd even prefer it if she wasn't used as much anymore, I mean, you don't really want to see your character like every two games right?

 

[domiNate]

Yeah, Samus's popularity has gone down a lot since melee. Luckily you have people like me who switched over to Samus after realizing brawl is very different than melee. This thread is an example of how popular Samus may be, although it's not totally accurate or anything. It's just an idea.

http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=165954

 

[Hive]

http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=165954

Oh wow! She's way down there! And as usual all the best characters got bandwagoned All the best characters that is.... AND WARIO. Oh God!

 

[VirisKnite]

It's kind of cool that not too many people main Samus. I've played maybe 7 people from the friend finder, not much but not one of them used Samus. I need to register some people from these boards. Also after playing ffa's on wifi with some friends and getting owned. They said they tryed to use Samus and couldn't see how I use her. So yeah it's like only certain awesome people can use Samus. Oh and I particularly suck with Yoshi and some others, but can't think of them right now.

 

[VirisKnite]

http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=165954

Oh wow! She's way down there! And as usual all the best characters got bandwagoned All the best characters that is.... AND WARIO. Oh God!

Note from that how hard Samus is read. I think that says a something.

Edit: yeah disregard that I get it now oops.

 

[Gum]

THink of it like this: The less people that use her, the less people there are who know wut to do against a good Samus player. Its an edge in tourneys.

 

[n00b]

^ As the game evolves and not much is left to be discovered, that edge will eventually diminish and Samus will end up simply struggling against higher tiers. At least, that was the situation with my Yoshi in melee years ago..

 

[Lucrece]

^ As the game evolves and not much is left to be discovered, that edge will eventually diminish and Samus will end up simply struggling against higher tiers. At least, that was the situation with my Yoshi in melee years ago..

Such a good thing that Yoshi got much better this time, don't you think? =D

 

[Grimpeh]

2 of my mates mained Samus in melee, the both stopped playing her in brawl. Not sure why as she's pretty awesome.

 

[Hive]

"So yeah it's like only certain awesome people can use Samus"
this makes me all warm and fuzzy inside ^^

I can see why a lot of people changed from a samus main in melee though.... they changed her timing so much... with the missiles and bombs, and wd was taken out and with the zair improved and sex kick down... its like a whole different character

 

[Kitamerby]

I've found that most often, Samus is deemed more of a "fun" character than one to be played seriously due to current metagame status, similar to Captain Falcon and Ike right now. She's fun as anything in friendlies, but she doesn't seem really too capable to the average casual smasher who doesn't put in a lot of time with her for a serious main.

 

[surrepGuy]

Maybe its just me, but I used to use samus in melee and tried using her initially in brawl only to find that all the moves I was familiar with were different and a lot weaker. This initial experience has kept me from really putting in any time to try to become familiar with the way samus works in brawl.

 

[Amon Amarth]

It's a little hard to stay a main, I guess because of the change in over all game play. I'm still deciding whether I'm better with Samus or G&W.

 

[IsmaR]

I can see her popularity going down severely since Melee, but there's still a lot of people I know who main Samus(mostly those in my clan <_<)

 

[Mokai]

It also doesn't help that there's a number of characters this time around who are able to absorb/reflect/retaliate from Samus' energy blasts.

Ness
Lucas
Game & Watch
Peach
Pit
Fox
Falco
Wolf
Zelda

These are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. The presence of these characters make it a risky gamble to use a skill that would otherwise be a pocket ace for Samus to use when you need it most.

 

[ph00tbag]

Brawl Samus was basically an enormous disappointment, not just because she was worlds worse, but because she was much, much less fun to play. Melee Samus gave you a lot of options, and all sorts of playstyles were able to emerge. Brawl Samus is just very one-dimensional. For this reason, you saw a mass exodus of Samus players who honestly didn't like the new playstyle. Most of us actually still dabble in her from time to time, but characters that are more interesting and multidimensional won out.

 

[Crystanium]

Ness
Lucas

Use Homing and Super Missiles. Surprise them with a Charge Shot. Or, fire a Super Missile with a Charge Shot. They'll have to block instead, and a slight lag will not allow them to use the PSI Magnet in time.

Game & Watch

Apply the same with G&W. If you want, fill up his bucket, because once that is out of the way, he cannot absorb anymore of Samus' Charge Shot. All you'll have to do is stay out of the way, which should be easy with a few Homing Missiles and z-airs.

Peach

Projectiles are used further away from the enemy, and it isn't like Peach will always be using Toad in her defense, lest she mistaken an attack and gets grabbed instead. It has a nice lag if not used properly. Toad can only block one projectile at a time, which means Super Missile + Charge Shot = 25% damage.

Pit

Pit has a slight lag in putting up his Mirror Shield. The same is applied for putting it away. Simply surprising Pit or having him think you're going to use a Charge Shot helps, especially if you use the Charge Shot the moment he isn't expecting it.

Fox
Falco
Wolf

In these battles, I use Homing/Super Missiles and Charge Shots when my opponent is least expecting it. You just need to know who you're going against.

Zelda

Nayru's Love is short, but can be used immediately after. However, you can trick your opponent by firing a Super Missile, and then a Charge Shot. When Samus' Charge Shot is fully charged, it will eat through Super Missiles and continue flying toward the opponent, which means that if Zelda isn't expecting the Charge Shot to fly at her, she's left open.

These are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. The presence of these characters make it a risky gamble to use a skill that would otherwise be a pocket ace for Samus to use when you need it most.

In the end, U, D, U, D, U, D, U, D works too. That is, if you are good at transforming into Zero Suit Samus. If not, simply hold the right side of the D-pad down and the toggle up and down at a fast pace to shed that lovely armor.

 

[Hive]

Brawl Samus was basically an enormous disappointment, not just because she was worlds worse, but because she was much, much less fun to play. Melee Samus gave you a lot of options, and all sorts of playstyles were able to emerge. Brawl Samus is just very one-dimensional. For this reason, you saw a mass exodus of Samus players who honestly didn't like the new playstyle. Most of us actually still dabble in her from time to time, but characters that are more interesting and multidimensional won out.

Yea, she's a lot different from melee but I still think she's pretty kwl character.... she's definitiley NOT the same though....
Oh well, i probably just like her because I'm a huge metroid series fan
I think the creators of brawl had issues with how samus took advantage of glitches in melee... even though that's what made melee even more enjoyable...

 

[GotACoolName]

I hate how unpopular she is. I don't care if I'm unique for maining her or whatever. The problem is that everyone writes her off as (one of) the worst character(s) in the game and totally unusable.

 

[ph00tbag]

Oh well, i probably just like her because I'm a huge metroid series fan

This is why I'm thankful that they still have ZSS. She's a lot more fun to me.

 

[VirisKnite]

"So yeah it's like only certain awesome people can use Samus"
this makes me all warm and fuzzy inside ^^

I can see why a lot of people changed from a samus main in melee though.... they changed her timing so much... with the missiles and bombs, and wd was taken out and with the zair improved and sex kick down... its like a whole different character

Yeah, actually I didn't really have a problem when first picking up Samus when Brawl came out. And to add to the changing of timing of some attacks, imo her dair timing is better now and her sh is also better.

But I never really got competitive in Melee. So that may be why I didn't have a problem with losing all of Melee's ATs.

 

[Hive]

"This is why I'm thankful that they still have ZSS. She's a lot more fun to me"

true.... but I still have a grudge against nintendo for making her blonde... I mean seriously! They make all of their girl characters blonde! grrr (peach, zelda, sheik, zss (I even liked it better when her hair was green in the original!))

 

[Paradigm]

"They make all of their girl characters blonde! grrr (peach, zelda, sheik, zss (I even liked it better when her hair was green in the original!))

Wasn't always. Nintendo changed the hair color of a number of characters. Samus and Link both originally had darker hair. They'd probably do it to Mario, too, if they could get away with it. ):

The problem is that everyone writes her off as (one of) the worst character(s) in the game and totally unusable.

No, it's awesome like that - I get underestimated all the time, and by the time I'm taken seriously it's too late :D

Yesterday, a Lucas player I trashed: "I've never seen a Samus like that! Come to think of it I've never seen a Samus main at all..."

It'll take a bit before the semi-competitive scene learns to play against unpopular characters like Samus. Take advantage of it while you can.

 

[Hive]

No, it's awesome like that - I get underestimated all the time, and by the time I'm taken seriously it's too late :D

Yesterday, a Lucas player I trashed: "I've never seen a Samus like that! Come to think of it I've never seen a Samus main at all..."

It'll take a bit before the semi-competitive scene learns to play against unpopular characters like Samus. Take advantage of it while you can.

Oh I totally agree!

 

[Crystanium]

I fail to see why Samus isn't deemed better in Brawl than she is in Melee. It may be that I haven't played Melee much after Brawl came out, but today when I played Melee, I found Brawl's Samus to be better. She is easier to control with the Bombs when used in the air. Her floaty feeling while in the air is superior in my opinion. Her f-air is superior to Melee's, because she can move back while using it. Melee doesn't offer that. Samus' u-tilt in Melee may be better due to the speed, but because you can make her u-tilt move quickly in Brawl by continuously pressing the A button, it's irrelevant. I don't know, but I prefer Samus in Brawl. I never knew how to do the Super Wavedash, so that has no affect on my gameplay. Oh, and z-air makes a difference.

 

[Geist]

I still main samus in Brawl, and have since the 64 days =]
I'm not about to stop, and I'm used to her being low tier.

I definitly miss the agressive speedy samus in melee though... sigh.

 

[Hive]

"I fail to see why Samus isn't deemed better in Brawl than she is in Melee"-dryn

i don't know... melee samus was like a trillion times better... you should check out some of her vids on the melee character specific....
she's waaay faster, can wavedash, super wavedash, super missile faster, triple missile, and her grapple doesn't home into the ledge, plus her sex kick is pretty amazing ^^ in melee...

 

[Crystanium]

"I fail to see why Samus isn't deemed better in Brawl than she is in Melee"-dryn

i don't know... melee samus was like a trillion times better... you should check out some of her vids on the melee character specific....
she's waaay faster, can wavedash, super wavedash, super missile faster, triple missile, and her grapple doesn't home into the ledge, plus her sex kick is pretty amazing ^^ in melee...

Well, yeah, she's way faster in Melee. Consider the speed in that game, not only for Samus, but for any character. She falls faster, too. It's like playing Samus in Brawl with 1.5 speed in Training Mode. Her Screw Attack in Melee doesn't connect, and her u-air isn't impressive, either. That might be the reason why I was beginning to main Ganondorf later on. (It's a shame they greatly nerfed Ganondorf in Brawl.)

As I said before, the super wavedash or anything related to that has no bearing on my gameplay. The only "glitch" I've ever managed to perform was the extended Grappling Beam. I never used it, so it wouldn't be something that would affect me as soon as I laid my hands on Brawl. (I had to get used to the new air-dodge feature, though. I'd try to move up, down, left or right, but to no avail.)

Oh, and what's a "sex kick"?

 

[GotACoolName]

I fail to see why Samus isn't deemed better in Brawl than she is in Melee. It may be that I haven't played Melee much after Brawl came out, but today when I played Melee, I found Brawl's Samus to be better. She is easier to control with the Bombs when used in the air. Her floaty feeling while in the air is superior in my opinion. Her f-air is superior to Melee's, because she can move back while using it. Melee doesn't offer that. Samus' u-tilt in Melee may be better due to the speed, but because you can make her u-tilt move quickly in Brawl by continuously pressing the A button, it's irrelevant. I don't know, but I prefer Samus in Brawl. I never knew how to do the Super Wavedash, so that has no affect on my gameplay. Oh, and z-air makes a difference.

In Melee she had better range, infinitely better missiles, bomb set-ups, bigger and stronger charge beam, better recovery, wavedash and super wavedash, and the strength to actually kill her opponents at reasonable percents.

 

[IsmaR]

Oh, and what's a "sex kick"?

Her Neutral air. It's called a sex kick because it causes damage even after the initial motion, I think. It's been greatly nerfed in Brawl(in terms of damage and knockback), but I still think it's pretty useful(a short hop and then a sex kick usually is pretty good for keeping opponents back). For the most part, I agree with most everything you're saying.

 

[VirisKnite]

sex kick=nair cuz its sexay... most likely not I just know some one named those type of nairs the sex kick and it spread or whatever. Btw Dryn I'm with you, cause sh was pretty important to mc and her sh was harder to pull off and higher. I like actually being able sh. But yeah for the pros Samus was mainly nerfed.

 

[VirisKnite]

Hey just so I can be more informed. How does damage after motion relate to sex?

 

[Crystanium]

In Melee she had better range, infinitely better missiles, bomb set-ups, bigger and stronger charge beam, better recovery, wavedash and super wavedash, and the strength to actually kill her opponents at reasonable percents.

I can agree with you on the neutral B and Forward B (smash). If only her Super Missiles in Brawl had the same effect. Both did 10%, but the knockback was superior in Melee. Her b-air was wonderful, and I remember when picking up the Bunnyhood, that I'd run, jump in the air and use the n-air and say, "Air Jordan!" It was even more funny if I hit my opponent. I'd often use b-air, seldom n-air. As for wavedash related things, I couldn't care less. If that's what made Samus better...

 

[VirisKnite]

Yeah my melee samus practically revolved around nair and bair. When people approached me from the air I'd just run underneath jump and bair. And if I couldn't get behind them nair was wonderful.

 

[ph00tbag]

Her Screw Attack in Melee doesn't connect, and her u-air isn't impressive, either.

I don't quite understand what you're talking about with Screw Attack not connecting. I hit with it almost all of the time. He uair was also very good for comboing/finishing. Now it just hits people who are above you. Woohoo.

 

[HugS]

THink of it like this: The less people that use her, the less people there are who know wut to do against a good Samus player. Its an edge in tourneys.

Or think of it this way. The less people that use her, the harder it is to develop anti-samus strategies. Therefore, the slower it is that samus improves with the rest of the cast because there isn't enough competition.

Low tier/underused characters are not a good thing. They become gimmicks that win every now and then, but Once they are figured out, a low tier character has a hard time winning anymore. A lack of development due to low usage leaves the character very little chance to become tournament viable.

 

[Crystanium]

I don't quite understand what you're talking about with Screw Attack not connecting. I hit with it almost all of the time. He uair was also very good for comboing/finishing. Now it just hits people who are above you. Woohoo.

What I mean by connecting is that the Screw Attack has been buffed in Brawl. In Brawl, 95% of the time the Screw Attack does its full damage, unlike in Melee.

 

[Paradigm]

It's been nerfed in Brawl. I think I remember Hugs mentioning somewhere here before. The priority isn't what it used to be, so it can not reliably be used to get out of shield pressure as it used to. I'd be willing to have it do less damage if I could use it as effectively in a defensive manner as I could in Melee.